考研英语阅读理解精读练习
When Archaeopteryx, a feathered skeleton that was emingly half dinosaur and half bird, turned up in 1862—three years after the publication of “The Origin of Species”—the origin of birds became a subject of raging debate among palaeontologists. Suggestions that they were the direct descendants of theropod dinosaurs (a group of bipedal meat-eaters that include Allosaurus, Velociraptor and Tyrannosaurus) caud quite a flap. Today, most rearchers agree that birds are, indeed, a branch of the Dinosauria. How they made the transition from the land to the sky, though, has yet to be agreed. But a paper in this week's Current Biology, by Christopher Glen and Michael Bennett of the University of Queensland, makes a strong ca that they did it by jumping.
Considering the diversity of life on Earth, flight is surprisingly rare. It has evolved only four times: among the incts about 300m years ago, the pterosaurs (230m), the birds (150m) and the bats (50m). That suggests it is a hard trick to pull off. For birds, there is general agreement that feathers came before flight. Fossils from north-eastern China show animals
that had feathers but clearly could not have flown, as well as ones that look like proper birds. The best guess are that feathers evolved either for insulation (as fur did in mammals) or for display, and that natural lection took advantage by turning them into a means of transport.
厄贝沙坦氢氯噻嗪There are two broad schools of thought about what happened next. One argues that birds' immediate ancestors lived in trees. Members of this school think that powered flight developed as a natural extension of gliding (such controlled falling is ud as a way of travelling from tree to tree by veral arboreal species today). Gliding itlf developed becau of the lift provided by feathered forearms.
The alternative is that flight evolved on the ground. Some rearchers who belong to this school of thought suggest that the power provided by flapping protowings may have given their owners an edge in the pursuit of prey. Others hypothesi that feathery forearms helped animals steer and stabili themlves.
Unfortunately, behaviour does not fossili, so it looked as though the question might nev
er be answered. But Dr Glen, a palaeobiologist, and Dr Bennett, a biomechanic, think they have worked out how to do so. Their crucial obrvation is that in modern birds the curvature of the third toe (which carries a lot of weight during walking and climbing) varies with species' lifestyles. Birds that spend lots of time climbing around on the trunks of trees have dramatically curved third toes. Tho that hop around on branches have mildly curved ones. Tho that forage mainly on the ground have the least curved of all.
The two rearchers compared the obrvations with their findings for the bird-like dinosaurs and dinosaur-like birds of China. They noticed that the toes of both feathered dinosaurs and of the earliest flying birds were similar to tho of modern birds that spend most of their time on the ground. Flight, in other words, came before birds took to the trees. They are not fallen angels, but rin reptiles.
1. Which one of the following statements is NOT true of the current debate on the origin of birds?
[A] The opinion that birds were the direct descendants of dinosaurs gives the world a sho
杏树什么时候开花ck.
[B] Palaeontologists have get connsus on the specie’s transition from the land to the sky.
一知半解的意思
[C] Palaeontologists have different opinions on the process of the transition.
[D] The paper in this week's Current Biology demostrate that the specie moved by hopping before they flied.
2. The reason why flight is surprisingly rare is that _____
[A] life on earth is diversified.
[B] many species of this kind were eliminated during evolution.
[C] feathers evolved not for a means of transport.
[D] it is very hard to have such evolution.
3.The two schools of thought have different opinions on _____
[A] the functions of feathered forearams in transition from ground to sky.
[B] the location of living place before the animals’ evolution to birds.
[C] the development of powered flight.
[D] the power provided by either gliding or flapping.
4. The conclusion of the study carried out by Dr. Glen and Dr. Bennet is that_____
[A] powered flight developed as feathered forearms provided lift.
[B] flight evolved on the ground before they descend on the trees.
[C] earliest birds share similar toes with their modern counterparts.
认为英语怎么说
[D] earliest flying birds evovled from feathered dinosaurs.
5.Which one of the following statements is NOT true of opinions of Dr. Glen and Dr. Bennet?
[A]Birds realized the transition from reptile to flight by jumping.
[B] Dinasaurs are, as a matter of fact, the direct ancester of birds.
[C]Feathers evolves not for the purpo of flight.
[D] Bird’s behaviors is indeed fossilid by their various shape of the third toe.
篇章剖析：
拍花这篇文章讲述了关于鸟类进化的一些研究情况。第一段讲述研究者对于鸟类如何从陆地转到空中生活的进化史有一定的分歧；第二段讲述了鸟类羽毛出现的过程；第三、四段讲述了两派不同看法；第五、六段讲述研究者根据鸟类脚趾情况断定了上述转化是如何发生的。
词汇注释：
Archaeopteryx n. 始祖鸟 palaeontologists n. 古生物学家
theropod adj. 兽脚亚目的 bipedal adj. 两足动物的
Allosaurus n. 异龙 Velociraptor n.
Tyrannosaurus n. 暴龙 arboreal adj. 树栖的
biomechanic n. 生物力学家 curvature n. 弯曲
hop v.跳跃 forage v. 翻寻搜寻食物
鼻子痒怎么办难句突破：
沟通案例(1) When Archaeopteryx, a feathered skeleton that was emingly half dinosaur and half bird, turned up in 1862—three years after the publication of “The Origin of Species”—the origin of birds became a subject of raging debate among palaeontologists.
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